How We Helped Oz Minerals Regain Control of Critical Risks in Just 12 Months

The Situation: A Board on Edge

Imagine running a multi billion dollar mining operation and not knowing if your biggest risks were actually under control. That was the reality for Oz Minerals (now part of BHP) in 2022.

With operations spread across multiple underground mines in South Australia and Brazil, a corporate HQ in Perth, and a major project site in Western Australia, the leadership team faced a terrifying question:

If something goes wrong, are we personally at risk of going to jail?

They had a Critical Risk Management process but in practice

• It was disjointed and complex
• It was not integrated into daily operations
• No one truly owned it
• And most importantly, no one could confidently say their critical risks were being controlled

Fixing it internally would have taken at least three to five years which was time they did not have.

The Mission: Build a World Class CRM System in Record Time

We came in with a clear objective to fix it fast and fix it properly.

Within 12 months, just 20 percent of the time it would have taken internally, we

• Trained all key stakeholders in Critical Risk Management so that everyone from site leads to board members understood their role
• Performed a deep technical analysis of 40 risks across the business, uncovering blind spots
• Identified their true critical risks and standardised them across all operations so there were no more inconsistent interpretations
• Developed control assurance strategies for 60 critical controls to ensure risks were actually being managed, not just documented
• Revamped their reporting frameworks to include essential Critical Risk Management metrics, giving leadership real time insights

And ultimately

• Gave the board confidence that they were not at risk of jail time because they had clear visibility into their Critical Risk Management program

What Oz Minerals BHP Loved About Working With Us

We did not just consult. We took ownership.

• We developed the project plan so there was no wasted time figuring out what to do next
• We provided all the resources so their team did not have to scramble to find extra hands
• We delivered on time and under budget with no surprises and no delays
• All they had to do was report project progress to the board while we handled everything else

The Takeaway: The Right Partner Can Save You Years of Pain

If your organisation is struggling with Critical Risk Management, you have two choices

1. Try to fix it internally which could take years, drain resources, and still leave you exposed
2. Work with a team that has done it before and get it done in a fraction of the time without the stress

At the end of the day, the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of getting it right.

Want to transform your Critical Risk Management program without wasting years?

Use the link below to book a call with Christian Young

https://go.impresssolutions.com.au/cy-call

This is an example of a bowtie for loss of control of Vehicle (Surface)

This is an example of a bowtie analysis for loss of control of Strata (Underground)

Below are some extracts from one of our Critical Control Performance Standards for the Critical Control of Equipment Guarding

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